


The Greatest Price

by shamelesscaptainswanshipper



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-05-02 13:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5249621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shamelesscaptainswanshipper/pseuds/shamelesscaptainswanshipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To get rid of the darkness in both her and Killian Emma must make the greatest sacrifice of all. Can Killian convince her to do what must be done?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Greatest Price

**Author's Note:**

> So there's been a lot of talk about what will eventually happen at the end of season 5A and this is my take on a scene that I think we'll see in an upcoming episode.

“Emma,” Killian says softly, looking at her with pleading eyes. “You have to do this.”

They are sitting on the cold stone floor in her basement - their basement actually, with Excalibur lying between them, neither of them touching it.

Emma shakes her head. “No, there has to be another way to destroy the darkness.”

“You and I both know this is the only way, love.”

Emma looks down on the hands folded in her lap. She wants to curse Arthur and his minions for what they tried to do to her family, for what they tried to do to her, and for what Arthur did to Killian. She wants to curse Zelena for her betrayal. And she wants to curse Merlin for having a hand in the creation of this darkness living inside the both of them. She wants to make them pay for what they all did. They should pay the price not her, and certainly not Killian.

Emma’s head jerks upwards at the sound of metal scraping the earth. Killian has picked up the sword.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“If I could do it myself I would have done it already,” he says. “I wish I could but it has to be you. You have to do it.”

“We don’t have to,” she pleads him desperately. “We could handle it - together. We could still have a future!”

“But at what cost?” he says. “What kind of future would that be?”

“I don’t care what I have to give up as long as we’re together,” she insists. “As long as you’re with me I don’t care!”

“You don’t really mean that love,” he says softly, tracing the enchanted blade with his hook. “Nothing is worth living in eternal darkness. I couldn’t do that to you or to our family. It wouldn’t be a life worth living. Could you do that to me?”

Emma is unable to answer. She knows that he’s right. It was the same thing with Neal. He begged her to separate him from his father to allow Rumpelstiltskin to help them against Zelena. As a result of this he died in her arms. They had all died in her arms.

“Ain’t fate a bitch!”

Regina’s words plays over in her head.

She tries to speak but she fails. All she can do is let the tears flow while she sobs.

Killian moves beside her and instantly pulls her into his arms. Tears of his own are threatening to spill but he can’t let them. He has to be strong for his Swan. A part of him wants to agree with her and tell her that they can try again, that they really can have a future as Dark Ones. Because he can’t bear to see her like this, so broken and so scared - because of him.

He regrets everything he said to her when he discovered the truth of what happened to them. He regrets yelling at her and calling her selfish and most of all he regrets calling her a villain. Because even with darkness inside of her she is still the furthest thing from a villain. She is good. Too good for him. He doesn’t deserve her. But somehow he has managed to earn her love and he hates himself for being the reason for her suffering. Perhaps he is the selfish one for wanting to give up on life, for refusing to let her save him, because of his own fears of the darkness.

Emma has buried her face in his chest and her tears are staining his shirt. He wants to tell her that everything is going to be alright. He wants to tell her that he will stay with her, that nothing is going to stand in the way of their future. But he can’t. And she knows it, hence the tear stains on his shirt. They both know that this is the right thing to do - and the only thing to do.

“What I said to you the other night, Emma - I really meant it. I will always love you, no matter what you’ve done.”

“Then stay here and love me,” Emma thinks to herself but she can’t bring herself to say it. It would be too selfish.

Killian pulls away from her. He gently wipes the remaining tears from her face and to her surprise, smiles.

“It’ll be alright Emma,” he says. “You’ll be the savior again.”

“I couldn’t save you,” she says. Her voice is still thick from crying.

“You already have, love,” he says, caressing her cheek. “You gave me a reason to live. You pulled me from the darkness, you saved me from myself.”

The look he is giving her holds nothing but love, something that is probably mirrored in her own eyes as she looks back at him.

“What you’re asking me to do is-”

“I know,” he says softly, barely above a whisper. “But this time you have to let me go. I couldn’t ask for a better way to end my life than to see the Dark One being destroyed once and for all.”

Emma suppresses the urge to break down once more, something that he doesn’t miss.

“Smile, love,” he says. “We’re about to save the world.”

She forces on a smile.

“Ah, that’s better,” he says.

He rises to his feet, with Excalibur still in his good hand. He holds out his hook to her. She is hesitant but allows him to pull her to her feet. He offers the sword to her but she doesn’t take it, instead Killian finds himself taken aback by the sudden force of her lips pressed against his. He is only too eager to respond and the sword falls to the ground with a big clank as he pulls her to him with both his arms, well aware that this could be their last kiss.

He doesn’t know how long it lasts. Seconds? Minutes? Hours perhaps? But after a while he forces himself to pull away. They need to do this now, before he changes his mind, before the darkness takes full control of him.

He picks up the sword and offers it to her once again. This time she accepts it.

She looks down at the cursed blade with both their names carved into the metal. So much for their future, she realizes. Any chance at a future was doomed the moment she chose to fill Killian with dark magic instead of letting him die in peace. She has to do this. For herself, for Henry and for her family and all of Storybrooke - for Killian.

“You know what you have to do,” he says. “You have to kill me.”

“Killian I-” but she doesn’t know what to say. 

“Please, Swan,” he says. “Release me from the darkness.”

Emma slowly nods. She takes a step closer towards him, never taking her eyes off his face.

“I love you,” she says and once again presses her lips against his in a passionate kiss. Killian barely has any time to react before he feels a sharp pain in the left side of his chest. Emma has stabbed his heart with Excalibur.

Several things happen at once. Their ears ring with the agonizing screams of the previous Dark Ones until there’s no sign of them left in their minds. The black substance is pulled from their bodies and gets sucked in by a bright, white vortex above their heads. Excalibur vanishes into thin air and Emma catches Killian’s collapsing body before it hits the ground.

When she looks down at herself she notices that she is no longer wearing her black crocodile skin attire but is back in her beautiful white gown from Camelot.

“We did it,” Emma says, like she can’t believe that she is finally free from the darkness. “The darkness is gone.”

Killian chuckles weakly. “That’s my Swan,” he says, smiling up at her, love and happiness shining in his sea blue eyes. Moments later that expression is gone and he is no longer breathing.

“Goodbye Killian.”


End file.
